A Ruination's Salvation
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: I've always had a soft spot for Nina Tucker, and hated how her character, along with Alexander's, was killed off. Here's to Nina.


Creation began on 06-02-11

Creation ended on 06-05-11

Fullmetal Alchemist

A Ruination's Salvation

A/N: Every time I recall the original anime series and the manga, I can't help but feel grief for Nina. Why did the creators of the franchise have to put an end to one of the most special characters in the whole series? Another plot for Brother Correction. Based on the original anime. Try this!

As Scar, the State Alchemist killer from Ishbal, departed the scene of the new crime and as the Elric Brothers slowly approached it, a man from the shadows of the alley where the former Human Chimera was dealt a fatal blow. He was about five feet and embraced the darkness in his skin, but his eyes expressed sadness at what had happened and what will happen if this was made known to those affected by the sin.

"This just will not do," he uttered. "Innocence dies, but an innocent life shouldn't. Let what was be once more. Let what is be no more."

The bloodstains on the wall and street gathered up into a large ball of mush and was settled upon the ground. With a mere contact from his hands, the sphere tingled and shifted. It split into two and while one seemed to expand, the other contracted, becoming large and small, respectively. The large sphere of blood reconfigured and changed color into a large, white wad of fur while the smaller sphere resembled a wad of pinkish flesh.

"Let the one be two again, free to exist as they were and are meant to," the dark man uttered, and the white ball continued to be sculpted until it resembled a dog bred from the Great Pyrenees.

The smaller pink wad was sculpted into a human about the size of a little girl, with long, brownish-red hair and a face full of innocence. Unfortunately, while the unconscious canine was properly restored, the little girl's body was as bare as the day she drew her first breath. Removing his dark coat, the mysterious man draped the girl in it to allow her modesty and protection from the rain.

"Un…umm…" The restored girl mumbled, opening her eyes, but was barely able to focus her sight.

"It's okay," he told her as she slipped away from consciousness. "You're going to be alright now."

"Nina!" The sound of Edward Elric's voice had caught up to the man's ears, and he gently set the girl's head down on her dog's sides.

"Live your life free of pain and suffering, and be safe from danger," he told her and ran off into the shadows. _You're free once more._

When the Elrics arrived, they were left in shock at what they discovered: Nina and Alexander, originally fused together…were separated and well.

"Nina!" Edward cried out, running toward her and Alexander, picking her up and trying to wake her. "Nina!"

"Oh…hmm…" Nina groaned as she opened her eyes once more. "Ed…Edward?"

Having been declared legally insane, Shou Tucker was incarcerated for his past crime of using his wife in the creation of his first Chimera that brought him his fame and recognition (as Nina and Alexander were somehow restored to normal, Shou's most recent attempt biological transmutation couldn't be fully used against him). While Brigadier General Basque Grand still wanted to take Nina and Alexander into his custody, all for the purpose of discovering how they were transmuted back to normal in secret, Führer King Bradley, unaware of what had transpired at the Tucker estate, simply ordered the Iron-Blood Alchemist to leave the girl and her dog alone.

"So, what now?" Alphonse asked his brother; with Shou behind bars for his crimes, Nina was pretty much an orphan.

They were sitting on a bench at a park, watching Nina play with Alexander, pondering on what to do. While Ed was certain they should leave Nina in the care of a different family, Al was hesitant to leave her behind after something that seemed so traumatic. All Nina could tell them from that night was she saw a strange man that had, apparently, restored her and Alexander, but she couldn't recall much of his face, except for it being dark and had eyes full of sadness that turned to happiness. She had put that night behind her, not wanting to recall what her father had done.

"Ed!" The three turned toward a girl that seemed about Ed's age, except a little taller than him, with blond hair and a pair of piercings in her ears.

"Aaahh! Winry!" Ed gasped, wondering what she was doing here. "What are you doing here?"

"Other than taking in the sights of Central City? Seeing you guys, of course," Winry explained.

Nina got up and came over to the Elrics and this tall girl, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Who's this, Edward?" She asked. "Is this…your girlfriend?"

That, of course, made both Ed and Winry gasp.

"Nope! He's/She's not my boyfriend/girlfriend!" They uttered at the same time.

"Ah-ha-ha!" She laughed at them; just like how it was when she had asked Ed when she caught him writing a letter, it was funny to see them react to a simple question.

"Who's this, Edward?" Winry asked him, having never met Nina before.

"Oh, uh, this… This is Nina," he answered her.

"Just Nina?"

"Nina Tucker."

"Oh."

Nina chuckled at the sight of the two together; they seemed like a nice couple to her. Then, she went back to the sandbox to play with Alexander.

Winry sat down at continued speaking with Ed.

"So…how'd your alchemy exam go?" She started.

"I passed it with flying colors. They put me in their history books as the youngest State Alchemist…so far. Not that I intend to brag about it."

"And what's the story about Nina?"

"Her father's in jail now."

"That's terrible."

"It's justified. He did something forbidden, which cost him Nina's mother."

"Oh, my…"

"For so long, I had always thought that alchemy was so beneficial, so helpful…but after three days ago…I discovered just how cruel and devastating it is when abused for the wrong reasons. It's no so different from what I tried to do back home."

"I'm sure what you were trying to do was very different from what her father was doing. You were simply trying to regain what was taken, not gain anything new. So…what's going to happen to her?"

"That's what we're trying to decide on," said Al to her. "Ed wants to leave her in another family, but I'm not sure we should leave her. There's this alchemist who's a little bit of a problem, despite his orders from the führer to leave Nina alone."

"Is he a tall guy, standard military uniform, imposing physique with an ugly mustache, stern voice, drops the temperature in the atmosphere about a certain degree?"

"Yeah, that sounds like him," said Ed. "Brigadier General Basque Grand. He's the only person we've seen that fits the description."

"I walked past him on my way here; he was making a conversation with some work assistant on some pipsqueak that passed his exam, so I guess he was referring to you." Winry revealed. "He also said that he was working on some project but that you were in the way of him getting somebody and some animal of theirs."

"Yeah, that's definitely Basque Grand. He must be obsessed with Nina and Alexander, even when ordered by the führer to keep away from them."

"Why's he so obsessed with them?"

"Nina's father had used her and her dog in a transmutation that left them fused together into a chimera, the same as he did with her mother."

"What? That's insane! But wait, if that's true, then why is…she…normal in appearance?"

"That's what we don't get ourselves," said Al to her. "We helped her escaped Basque Grand's custody and she ran off into an alley…but by the time we found her, she and Alexander were already restored to their original selves. Ed and I deduced that it wasn't a flaw in the transmutation…but that somebody, possibly more experienced in biological alchemy than Shou Tucker, was in the area and recognized the result of combining two or more lifeforms together and performed another transmutation that restored them to normal."

"Somehow, I doubt you'd ever find this person," Winry told them. "If such a person did exist, they'd probably a State Alchemist or would've done something like this long ago. Maybe it was something that only occurs once in a lifetime…or every so often if you're lucky."

"You mean…like a miracle?" Ed asked her.

"Yeah. Like that." She answered him.

"Hey, Ed, why not just take Nina back with home?" Al suggested.

"I'm heading home in two days," said Winry. "It wouldn't be a hindrance on me to show her around."

"Well…" Ed wondered, unsure of whether or not to agree on such a possibility.

Epilogue

To think that their such for the Philosopher's Stone was going to lead them into conflict with a State Alchemist killer known as Scar. The encounter left Alphonse's armored body damaged severely and Edward's automail right arm shattered to pieces, leaving them to be escorted by the Strong Arm Alchemist to their Resembool to acquire a new automail arm in order to repair Al's body. Of course, it wasn't the fact that they were returning home for a short period of rest and relaxation that had them bothered; it was the fact that after four years away from home, there were at least three people they were cautious to see. They could endure Pinako and Winry, due to knowing them for years, but it was the new resident at the Rockbell home that had them cautious the most.

"Huh?" Ed went, looking at the Rockbell home and seeing Pinako standing around on the front porch, smoking her pipe.

"Hey, you two!" She called out. "They're here!"

Within the house in the workshop, Winry, who was busy working on some of the synthetic fibers for automail, stopped working and picked up a wrench, while another person, much younger than her, set down a book and followed her.

"I can't believe them!" Winry uttered angrily. "They could at least call first before showing up!"

"Can you blame them?" The younger person asked. "They like to travel around a lot and calling or writing letters are rare."

Outside, Ed and Al saw Winry, living up to her profession as an automail mechanic, and the one person they were wondering on how well she was doing: Nina. It turned out that while Nina had a mild interest in alchemy, one of the things she found equally interesting was automail, though she didn't share Winry's passionate feel about the artificial limbs. In the years that followed since moving to Resembool, Nina practiced basic alchemy on simple repair jobs, while studying up and assisting in constructing automail, remarkably doing just as good as Winry because of her unforeseen gift of foresight on sizes.

"Welcome home, you two!" Nina greeted them with a smile, just as Alexander, still the big ball of energy that he was four years ago, landed on Ed and licked his face. "Ah-ha-ha!"

"Why me?" Ed asked, having been made Alexander's favorite dog toy.

Once they were inside, Winry went crazy about the destruction of the automail limb Ed had; this was something both Ed and Nina had put up with. Automail was like regular limbs: They didn't last, so they always had to be replaced or adjusted. But Winry, she acted like the loss of one artificial limb was the end of the world.

"It looks like your constant travel has been good for you, Ed," said the eight-year-old Nina, measuring his legs. "All your running made your leg longer. By at least four centimeters."

"Really?" Ed and Winry bot asked her.

A/N: Well, I'll end it here. Today's the fifth of June. It's my birthday. Hooray! I could go on about Nina, but it would take too long, and I have to service my other interests. I may write a possible story about Maes Hughes surviving the encounter with Envy. Peace out, yo!


End file.
